Mmm . . . tomacco: Oregon man crosses a tomato with tobacco plant

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In another case of life imitating art, an Oregon man has taken inspiration from the Simpsons and fused the roots of a tobacco plant to the body of a tomato plant, creating the legendary tomacco plant. Independent testing of the leaves has shown that they now contain nicotine, suggesting that the plant has become a true hybrid. Previous attempts to graft tobacco plants onto the roots of tomato plants failed. Ron Baur, the Dr. Frankenstein of this story, commented:

We'll see who's saying "D'oh" when I'm on the cover of TV Guide and Scientific American the same week," in response to his kids thinking he was mad.

This humble researcher has a hard time deciding what the practical merit of this work was. Unlike the Simpsons episode, I think Big Tobacco would have a very hard time trying to market nicotine ketchup or tomacco juice, and as we all know, crops of tomacco are usually destroyed by crazed farm animals fiending for a nic-fix. ~Write-up by Jonathan "Dr JonboyG" Gitlin